Facing the giant screen of the Novick Stadium in Dieppe (Seine-Maritime), it is the crowd of the big days. In the ring, a simple table dedicated to arm wrestling awaits the finalists of the first day of the World Championships in the discipline organized by the IFA (International Federation of Armwrestling). The sound system connects the classics of hard rock as the clashes follow one another. All around, coaches and friends have to shout their last instructions to be heard.
Often brief, but always very intense, the duels follow one another under the watchful eye of two referees who are easily spotted in their striped shirts. The winner then goes up, right next to the podium, to collect his medal and his title to the sound of his national anthem. Often with a lot of emotion.
On this last Tuesday of September, it is the youngest and the oldest who compete in a multitude of categories. The strongest are expected from this Thursday. A real event for the corsair city where nearly 500 competitors will do battle until Sunday, October 2. And despite the Russian-Ukrainian conflict – two of the best nations in the world – 28 delegations made the trip from Poland, Finland, Georgia, Sweden, Japan and even the United States.
“Every time, we meet great people”
“Last year was in Orlando, Florida. And there, it’s in Dieppe…”, smiles Didier Rolland-Plusquellec, co-organizer of this extraordinary meeting which however does not have the support of the officials of the French showdown attached to the federation of sports of force. A falling out that does not dampen his enthusiasm. “The important thing is to have managed to set up this competition with the support of Stéphane Novick, the boss of the place”, continues the solid guy.
At his side, the entrepreneur from Dieppe is happy to see the atmosphere in his establishment which already hosted the French “Strongman” Championships at the beginning of the summer. Is Dieppe on its way to becoming the muscle capital of France? “Initially, it was encounters that pushed me to get involved. And then from event to event, there is something that begins to take hold and which corresponds well to the spirit of the bar. So we will continue”.
To see the competitors from all countries chaining selfies in a good-natured atmosphere, we are also far from the clichés of the genre. “Each time, we meet wonderful people,” enthuses Tony Hope, an American ferist who competes in the disabled category. “I lost an arm at the age of two in an accident”. This does not prevent him from having kept an impressive left arm thanks to which he has won numerous national titles for four years. “I had a complicated life. I touched a lot of drugs and I got out of it thanks to sport, ”says the man from Montana, a smile on his face. “But today I am clean and delighted to leave my country for the first time by coming to Dieppe”.
